WASHINGTON ¨C To many people, the 2008-09 financial crisis was a complex, fast-moving news story and an anagram-laden, horrifying collapse. Such events often give rise to false histories, myths and ideologically driven narratives.
It is vitally important that we understand what really happened. Let¡¯s put to rest some of the sillier ideological narratives that have been pushed by partisans. And let¡¯s start here: Five years on, it¡¯s clear that the collapse of Lehman Brothers signaled a deep and enduring global financial crisis. Lehman¡¯s failure did not, however, cause the crisis.
The counterfactual argument goes something like this: If only the government had rescued Lehman, things would never have gotten so bad.
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